


mingling hands and mingling glances

by audiopsychic



Series: the waters and the wild [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fae & Fairies, Gen, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Selkie!Steve, Selkies, local man is hungover for the first time in 70 years, more at eight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 15:13:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14138697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audiopsychic/pseuds/audiopsychic
Summary: The Faerie Revels in New York are amongst the grandest parties in the world, and Steve would be willing to bet his life on that.





	mingling hands and mingling glances

**Author's Note:**

> wow?? a part two done this fast?? from ME????? unheard of
> 
> note: this needs editing and i'll get around to it eventually

The Faerie Revels in New York are amongst the grandest parties in the world, and Steve would be willing to bet his life on that. 

On days of power, the spirits and magical creatures in New York would gather in Central Park and dance until dawn. This tradition has been going on for as long as the spirits held a foothold in New York. (If asked whether or not they had a hand in the creation of Central Park, faeries had lived through the era will neither confirm nor deny anything.) The Summer Solstice is one the biggest, and Steve has made plans to attend. It will be his first midsummer in New York since before he left for Europe, and he cannot wait to slip out of his human skin. 

-

As the sun begins to set, Steve makes his way down into Central Park, seals-kin carefully folded at the bottom of a satchel. As he walks deeper into the park, the sounds of the city begin to quiet, and he starts to see the Will o’ the Wisps that mark the path to the lake. The wind whispers in the treetops, and if Steve strains his ears, he can make out quiet conversation.

The sound of music slowly reaches his ears, at first only soft violin that Steve attributes to a nakki or the like. He was getting closer.

Steve opens his bag, and gently pulls out the soft seal-skin, wrapping it around his shoulders, allowing the warmth of magic to settle over him. He sees light through the trees, the music now much louder, frantic and enticing, mingled with chatter and singing. He allows himself a moment before he steps into the clearing, and grins widely. 

There are tiny fairies, who flit about on gossamer wings baring sharp teeth, humanoids, ranging all the way from little folk with mischievous grins and malice in their eyes, to tall, ethereal beings, inhumanly beautiful. Creatures with animalistic traits, and some not even humanoid, their shapes monstrous. Others float intangible and ghostly. Even some humans dot the crowd.

In the lake, the spirits of the water sit, rusalka, some with their watery hair fanned out around them as they float, another sitting in a tree by the bank, ever dripping water. There are other selkies too, like Steve, who have come to drop the pretense of being human and simply delight in this chance to truly be themself. A few kelpies stand in the reeds, identifiable by their bony figure, long, reed-like manes, and sharp teeth.

An ageless fae he knows as Ailbhe, from back before the ice takes his hand, a grin wide on their face. 

“Steven!” They cry, leading him into the crowd. “We’ve missed you.”

They pull him along, ducking antlers, fluttering wings, and other various appendages whirling about in madcap revels.

Valeriya, a rusalka he recognizes grins a sharp-toothed, watery smile at his approach. “It has been many years since we last saw you! You have grown.”

“He has!” Exclaimed Ailbhe. “When we last saw him he was but barely twenty years old, and tiny at that.” They pat his arm. 

Steve smiles and crouches down so that Valeriya can get a better look at him. “I most certainly have grown. I’d have seen you sooner, but I was frozen for nearly seventy years.”

“Excuses,” She scoffs, and pats his cheek. “Now, go and join the party. Eat! Dance!”

He stands, and grins. “I will go and do just that.” 

-

Steve rests on the bank, head on his hands as he watches the dance. It’s beautiful, more beautiful than anything Steve has seen in years. Lights whirl overhead along to the unearthly music. He had missed this, the frantic dancing, the food and drink better than almost anything, hell, he even missed the people.

Steve sips carefully at a floral and thoroughly alcoholic drink that had been handed to him a while ago. He scans the crowd, occasionally spotting familiar faces.

Although most of the revellers are magical in some way, there are a few humans, thralls or lovers, or maybe they have the sight, or magic themselves. One girl, likely a knight with a glittering sword at her waist, dances with a deer-legged faerie, whose green dress whirls about her legs. A small child, grinning with wild abandon, sits on the back of a massive tree-creature with a face like the gnarled knot of an old oak tree. There’s a man-

Wait.

Is that _Loki_? Steve stares dumbstruck. The god seems to realize Steve is looking at him, their eyes meeting. After a moment of bewilderment, Loki recovers from the shock, and winks coyly at Steve.

Steve decides to ignore that.

A soft nudging at his hand turns his attention, and he looks up, startled by a kelpie clearly asking him for food. Steve tosses the creature a bit of meat Steve had taken for himself. It snaps the food out of the air, nickering gently.

Steve’s always loved those things. They’re sweet, when they aren’t trying to kill people.

- 

As dawn begins to break, the revels slow, and Steve finds himself in the lake, getting as much swimming as possible in his true form before the revel ends and the party disperses.

Eventually, Steve slips out of the water and sheds his skin, shaking the water out of his hair. He carefully folds his seal-skin, placing it at the bottom of his bag once more.

Yawning, he begins his walk out of the park. The sunrise casts a warm glow over everything, the soft golden light that signals the dawn of a new day.

-

“Where were you?” Tony asks as Steve makes his way of the elevator.

Steve grumbles. “None of y’r business.” He makes his way to the coffee machine. The effects of the sleepless night are catching up to him. 

Tony stares incredulously. “Is that _glitter_ on your neck?”

“No.” Says Steve, and sips his coffee.


End file.
